I am disappointed and annoyed at the suggestion that Daventry District Council's small dedicated housing team has not dealt with cases appropriately.

Our housing allocation policies are fair and clear and our team is honest, efficient and reliable.

Allocating housing is sensitive and demand is extremely high. The council has no stock of its own, it operates a common list for the 4,500 social rented properties owned by local housing associations.
There are currently around 2,500 people on the list, but last year it was only able to offer homes to 206 applicants.

It prevented 43 families from becoming homeless by helping them into private rented housing through its Home to Stay scheme and is working on new schemes to provide additional housing to meet increasing demand.
There is no favouritism here. All housing applications are assessed according to a strict criteria, where points are awarded according to need and priority.

It is easy to judge without knowing all the facts. There will be issues the anonymous complainant has no knowledge of which impact on the points allocated.

There is no need to complain through the newspaper, because I will always thoroughly investigate any specific complaints to ensure that the system is working as it should and respond as appropriate (subject to respecting confidentiality).

Cllr Steve Osborne
Housing portfolio holder
Daventry District Council